


Adventures with Cereal

by frankensteinian



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, F/M, PS sorry for the idiotic title lmao, SS is a little more advanced than you would be in-game when you meet Kellogg, Sexual Tension, TONS OF GAME SPOILERS, once again SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS, tried to stay as close to canon as possible, walked the Freedom Trail and all that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2018-10-29 01:23:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10843575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankensteinian/pseuds/frankensteinian
Summary: Kellogg let out a short laugh and lit a cigarette. He’d be damned if his last breath wasn’t gong to be tainted by nicotine. “Take you to him? Lady, if the Institute doesn’t let you in, then you don’t get in. Even if I wanted to take you there, I can’t. They booted me out. I’m just a loose end waiting to get tied up by you.”She glared at him. “What do you mean?”“The Institute revoked my access after they sent me out here,” he paused, exhaling a lungful of smoke, “but I’m not stupid. They want me dead because I’m a liability, and they knew you’d come looking for me. You, like the rest of us, are just another pawn in their scheme.”***Instead of killing Kellogg at Fort Hagen, Nora decides to hire him to help her find her son. Together, they traipse the Commonwealth on a mission to eventually take on the Institute.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this pairing tugged at my heart strings and I was devastated when I found out it only had a handful of fics to its name....so I started writing. I'm also super disappointed in Bethesda that siding with Kellogg wasn't an option, whether it be directly or through Nick Valentine. (Someone make a mod! Kellogg has enough dialog you can piece together to at least become a voiced companion.)

Nora walked through Fort Hagen’s dim corridor, her blue jumpsuit illuminated by the red flood light on the wall. She crept forward and heard pressure release as the pneumatic door in front of her opened. The overhead lights in the command center banged on one at a time and Nora proceeded through the door frame. Kellogg emerged with his arms raised from behind one of the big, rusted cubicles littering the room. She watched the merc and saw Gen 2’s creep from the shadows in her peripheral vision. They walked towards her with their laser rifles drawn.

“And there she is. The most resilient woman in the Commonwealth.” Kellogg’s voice rang out loud in the silent room.

Nora walked forward, gun drawn, eyeing his synths as they slowly lowered their weapons. Anger marred her face, causing her brows to knit and her teeth to grit. This is what she’d been waiting for for so long.

Kellogg watched her, recognizing that same anger. Recognizing the look of murder in her eyes. He’d known that feeling well. He gestured toward her, “let’s talk.”

Nora’s eyes crinkled at the edges and she flipped her hair out of her eyes. She spoke slow and concisely. “Where’s my son, Kellogg? Where’s Shaun?”

“Look, I’m just a puppet like you. My stage is just a little bigger, that’s all.”

Kellogg took a breath. His voice wasn’t sharp like she’d expected. He also spoke slowly and more resigned.

“Shaun’s a good kid. So maybe he’s not quite a baby anymore, but he’s doing great. Only… he’s not here.” The mercenary’s face showed a hint of disgust as he lowered his voice. “He’s with the people pulling the strings.”

Nora clenched her hands tighter around her pistol. This time she spoke with booming anger.

“Then take me to him. Right now.”

Kellogg let out a short laugh and lit a cigarette. He’d be damned if his last breath wasn’t gong to be tainted by nicotine. “Take you to him? Lady, if the Institute doesn’t _let_  you in, then you don’t get in. Even if I wanted to take you there, I can’t. They booted me out. I’m just a loose end waiting to get tied up by you.”

She glared at him. “What do you mean?”

“The Institute revoked my access after they sent me out here,” he paused, exhaling a lungful of smoke, “but I’m not stupid. They want me dead because I’m a liability, and they knew you’d come looking for me. You, like the rest of us, are just another pawn in their scheme.”

The light flickered overhead as Nora watched him. The smoke from his cigarette clouded around them in the stagnant air of the bunker. Dust fell from the ceiling, twinkling as the particles fell in and out of beams of light.

“Where are these bastards, huh? I’ll find a way in. I’ll find a way to save my son.”

He let out a laugh. It looked strange coming from his scarred face, Nora thought.

“God, you’re persistent! But I guess I should have expected that since you fought your way down here.” Kellogg’s expression sobered. “They’re way underground, but not like your little vault. No way in or out without their say so.”

Nora’s heart sank with his words. How was she going to save Shaun? How the hell was she supposed to get into the Institute?

The mercenary ashed his cigarette and took another draw. It was eerie to her that his voice remained so calm, so resigned. It was like he didn’t care whether he lived or died. She feared she had no leverage.

The vault dweller kicked a metal trash bin next to her, causing the otherwise silent room to echo a loud bang. Kellogg’s synths startled and raised their rifles to her again. She lowered her gaze and the merc waved a hand signaling the synths to stand down.

Kellogg beheld the woman in front of him. This was the end of the line for him and he knew it. All the cards had been stacked against him long before this. Kellogg wasn’t one to lie down and take any bullshit, and it pissed him off that the Institute decided to set him up like this. The only satisfaction he got was that at least the one to kill him was Nora. He had been in her shoes and could commiserate. He knew the kind of white hot anger and thirst for revenge that was caused by the murder of a loved one. He knew how unfair it felt. Maybe his last act of kindness ̶ hell, his only act of kindness ̶ could be to give this woman her deserved revenge. Even if it was orchestrated by the Institute.

Kellogg was about to draw their little talk to a close. He’d said his piece. He was ready to get this show on the road.

The merc wet his lips and steeled himself, “I think we’ve been talking long enough.”

Nora’s face twisted with rage. “You _murdered_  Nate. You _took_  my son…”

Kellogg threw his cigarette butt down and stomped it out with his shoe. He looked at Nora matter-of-factly. “Hey, if I ‘d had a choice, I would have killed you too. Nothing… _personal_ ,” he added, squinting his eyes and gesturing his hands, “But I know what it feels like to have your family ripped away from you. Obviously the Institute had other plans for you, though.”

There was a heavy silence after Kellogg finished. Nora felt conflicted. She wanted to put a bullet right between his eyes. Hell, this was the moment she’d been dreaming of ever since she’d crawled her way out of that damned cryopod. At the same time though, she wasn’t stupid. She realized that if she killed him, she’d be playing right into the hands of the Institute.

She was also acutely aware that Kellogg was the only lead she had on her son. Everything he’d told her  ̶ about the Institute being untouchable, about no one coming or going without them enabling it, about Shaun being trapped there  ̶ broke her heart a little more each time and sank her into hopelessness. If she killed him, she’d lose the only chance she had of finding Shaun. He was the only person in the Commonwealth that had inside knowledge of the Institute.

She was done getting shoved around by those bastards. She was done being their fucking pawn.

Nora lowered her 10mm. She spoke with a purpose. “You’re a hired gun, right? The Institute hired you to do their dirty work?”

The mercenary shifted on his feet and tilted his head back a little. “Right.”

Nora pursed her lips and gave one last thought to what she was about to say. Fuck it. Fuck them.

“I’ll pay you as much as you want, whatever you want, if you help me get into the Institute. I don’t care how many caps or how many supplies you want,” her expression softened, “I know you said there’s no way…but you have to know _something_. You’re the only man in the Commonwealth that’s actually been inside of that goddamned place.”

The air in the bunker felt choking. Every second that Kellogg remained silent was a second that Nora couldn’t breathe. What would she do if he refused? What would she do if a fire-fight ensued? Would she even be able to take him alive? Nora mentally beat herself up for leaving Valentine and Dogmeat outside. What a fucking foolhardy thing to do.

While the vault dweller stared holes into him, Kellogg was still trying to process what she had just proposed. What the fuck? Was this woman really trying to hire him? At first, he’d simply been surprised that she didn’t run in the room gunning for him. He fully expected her to lob a frag grenade his way when he emerged from behind the consoles.

He knew what the old man was planning the moment he heard they’d released her from the vault. And he knew it wasn’t any coincidence that he’d been made to parade around Diamond City with the kid synth just a couple months before she thawed out. “Socialization” his ass.

He’d spent some time reflecting on his life while he traveled to Fort Hagen from Diamond City. He was 108 years old. Sarah and Mary were long, long gone. His anger over it kept him blood thirsty for years, but lately he felt like he was running on fumes.

And honestly, Kellogg had been ready to die. He knew he had to go sometime. Everyone has to die ̶ even if they have an artificially extended life span. While waiting in the fort’s musty basement he’d realized that if he had to go, and least it was fitting. He wasn’t getting killed by something inconsequential like a stray Yao Guai or by the hands of some Commonwealth raider. If Nora had been able to transcend from a soft, pre-war vault dweller to a formidable foe, well that suited him just fine.

Kellogg returned from his thoughts back to the shadowy basement. Nora still wore a hard, take-no-shit expression, but he could see some nervousness in her face, too. He cleared his throat.

“You serious, vaultie?”

Nora hardened her expression, trying her best to seem intimidating. “Either that, or I can walk you through the Commonwealth with a gun in your back. You _will_  help me find my son, Kellogg.”

The grizzled merc laughed and Nora eyed him warily. Kellogg raised his .44.

“Sweetheart, save your intimidation bullshit for someone else. But if that’s the way you wanna do it, fine. We got a deal.”

Kellogg turned to his right landed a head shot on the Gen 2 standing on the other side of the desk beside him. The other synths scrambled to get a shot at both humans. Nora spun around, firing at the synth behind her guarding the door. The room erupted in a cacophony of laser shots and metallic bangs. The synth dropped and Nora threw herself behind the metal cubicle closest to her to take cover. Kellogg popped a stealth boy and advanced on the two synths further back in the room. The vault dweller leaned out and threw a pulse grenade behind the desks where the synths were taking cover. She called out, “grenade, watch it!”

The merc rushed backwards and shielded himself behind a cubicle and he heard the sound of electromagnetic discharge go off. Both humans bolted from behind their respective cubicles and gunned the synths down while they were still incapacitated. The basement dissolved into silence again as the sounds of their gun shots and the clinking of metal shell casings faded. Kellogg’s stealth field dissipated and he flickered back into Nora’s field of view.

“Hey do me a favor next time and don’t fucking throw pulse grenades while I’m in the general vicinity,” he said, voice tinged with irritation as he holstered his .44.

The woman beside him cast a confused glance in his direction. Kellogg shook his head and waved it off.

Nora let it go and gave a cough. She spoke, “so, you got a plan Kellogg? Where we headed?”

“Our best bet right now? The Glowing Sea.”


	2. Chapter 2

Nick Valentine stood on the roof of the fort near the hatch that Nora disappeared through earlier. Dogmeat was biding his time by sniffing around and digging through the trash piled up along the air conditioning unit next to Nick.

The detective took a puff off his cigarette and some smoke escaped through the hole in his synthetic skin. It was mid afternoon and the sky was clear, but he heard a thundering overhead. He turned to look in the direction of the noise and regarded a huge, metal blimp sailing through the sky. Vertibirds dismounted from the airship, forging ahead to the East. A booming voice emanated from the ship’s loudspeakers.

“People of the Commonwealth, do not interfere…Our intentions are peaceful. We are the Brotherhood of Steel…”

Nick’s face twisted in a look of disapproval. Sounded like propaganda to him. He’d heard about the Brotherhood of Steel from travelers coming in and out of Diamond City. It didn’t sit right with him that they decided to make an appearance in the Commonwealth.

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing…” Nick recited to himself quietly. Dogmeat looked up at him and whined.

Nora emerged into the sunshine and squinted a little. She drew her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sunlight until her eyes adjusted and looked up at the blimp flying away from her. She didn’t know what it was about, but she decided to ask about it later.

The hiss of compressed air from the door across the roof alerted Nick to her arrival. He smiled at her, happy to see her still in one piece. He flicked his cigarette butt off the edge of the roof and began making his way to the scaffolding bridge that connected the two roofs.

“You alright Nora? Was he in there?” Nick called out to her across the way. The German Shepherd had already bounded his way over to his master and excitedly pranced around her.

Nora grinned and bent down to ruffle Dogmeat’s fur. She looked up at Nick as he walked up to them and her expression turned more serious.

“Yeah,” was all she said. She was still trying to plan out what she was going to tell Nick. He was going to be pissed.

The detective gave her a confused look and spoke, “he must not have put up much of a fight. You don’t look any worse for wear.”

The woman cast her gaze downward and stood up. “Actually, Nick, I need to talk to you about something.”

Valentine looked at her, yellow eyes glowing and face apprehensive. “I’m listening,” he replied.

She bit her lip and huffed out a breath. She spoke up and splayed her hand in a offering gesture. “There’s no easy way to tell you this, so here it goes…I didn’t kill Kellogg. And he’s going to help me find a way to get into the Institute.”

The synth in front of her looked taken aback. He started in on her emphatically, “and you believe him? Nora, I don’t think I need to _lay it out_  for you why that’s an awful idea--”

“I know, Nick. I know,” Nora interjected. She looked pained and he knew he was bringing up bad memories. Of course she damn well knew why it was the worst idea he’d ever heard. She carried the memories with her every day of her husband being shot and child snatched by that lunatic. The same lunatic she’s asking for help. “Look, he’s the last person that I would resort to for help. But that’s just it, he’s our last resort. We don’t have any other leads, and Nick, he’s been inside the Institute…he can help me get my baby back.”

Nora’s face was full of sadness and longing. Her eyes brimmed with tears. The detective was frustrated but was swayed at the same time. Hell if Nick didn’t have a soft spot for dames that looked at him like that, crying for help finding their lost loved ones. The synth detective reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. His processors ran hot from frustration and he heard his coolant pump kick on.

“Nora, I’m just worried that you let some old mercenary sweet talk you into letting him live. I don’t want this to end badly.”

“I don’t know. I made a deal that I would pay him as many caps as he wants if he helped me. Thing is, he wasn’t the one to make that ultimatum. He seemed…like he wanted to die.”

Valentine didn’t know what to think about that. He didn’t know much about Kellogg, only that he’s a bloodthirsty killer. A hired gun.

-

Kellogg had stood behind the inner door leading to the roof for couple minutes, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he’d quietly made his way out so he could eavesdrop. Passive listening is what he’d prefer to call it. “Don’t come out straight away. I need to talk to Nick. He might shoot you otherwise,” she’d told Kellogg.

He was hidden from their vision, leaning on the wall connected to the pneumatic door. It made sense that the vault dweller had asked for Nick’s help tracking him down. He hadn’t ever actually met the synth detective. While looking down on Diamond City from his apartment, he’d watched Nick mill around and talk to people. Probably investigating some lead. Seemed like a decent guy, Kellogg thought to himself. Decent guys don’t usually make it far in this world anymore, though.

The merc grew tired of waiting around. Nora said that she needed to go to Diamond City to stock up before they headed out for the Glowing Sea. It was a fair walk from the fort back to the city, and they didn’t have too many hours of daylight left. He lifted off from the wall and walked out of the little covered area into view of both human and synth.

“You guys done talkin’ it over yet or what? We need to head out if we’re gonna try to get to Diamond City before nightfall.”

The mercenary startled both Nick and Nora with his interruption. Dogmeat growled at Kellogg as he stepped closer to them. The woman mumbled at her canine companion to stand down and looked towards her approaching foe. Valentine kept a hard eye on him.

“You’re right. We can talk while we walk.”

The group of three, plus dog, made their way off the building and began their trek towards the city. Nora and Kellogg walked in tandem while Valentine brought up the rear. He wanted to make sure the man didn’t bolt and kept his gun unholstered just in case.

Nick spoke up from behind them, “so what’s the plan, Kellogg?”

The man glanced behind him at the synth. “We’re going to go to the Glowing Sea. The last mission I got put on, well before the Institute set me up here, had to do with tracking down a rogue bioscientist hiding out there.”

Nora turned her head to look at him. “You think he can get us into the Institute?”

Kellogg met her gaze. “I think he’s our best bet at figuring out how.”

-

The trio had been walking a while and Kellogg was lost in thought. The vault dweller couldn’t know how old Shaun _really_  was. She’d heard about him running around with a ten year old kid in Diamond City, but nobody would have been able to tell her that her son is actually an old man. He wasn’t sure how she would react to that, and at least for now he’d keep it to himself. He wasn’t sure if she’d be so keen about finding her son if she knew he wasn’t a child anymore, and he wasn’t going to screw up his second chance at life so soon.

The mercenary listened to the other two talk with each other. Nora made small talk about what she was planning to do with some settlements once she got ahold of the resources. Valentine talked about some of his leads on a couple of his current cases and swapped ideas with her. Kellogg noticed the way Nora’s voice pitched a little higher and her eyes lit up when she talked about something she cared about. The way she gestured with her hands and didn’t even realize it. The weird, pre-war analogies that flew over his head but somehow Nick kept up with. It was kind of cute.

It was weird, to say the least, traveling with other people. Kellogg hadn’t done it in so long that he had forgotten what it felt like. He was used to either going it alone or having a squad of straight-to-the-point Gen 2’s. He thought back to when he’d been told to shack up with the kid at Diamond City. That was nice, whether he wanted to admit it or not. He got to have a peek at what it would have been like if Mary were still alive. It’s not a thought that he entertained often. He didn’t allow for himself to live in the past.

Silence had engulfed them again.

“Hey,” Nora piped up, “let’s stop at Oberland Station and stay there for the night. If we just go straight to Diamond City it’ll be nightfall when we get there and most of the shops will be closed.”

Kellogg stayed quiet, figuring Nora was talking mostly to Nick. The synth nodded to himself and replied, “sounds good to me.”

When they made it to Oberland Station it was almost 7 o’clock. Someone had already made a fire and many settlers were sitting around it, shooting the shit after a hard day’s work. Nora had worked hard on building the station up. The first time she saw it it wasn’t much more than a couple rows of mutfruit and a dilapidated station house. She had worked for weeks getting teams together to push rail cars down the tracks just in front of the settlement. They made nice, solid homes for the settlers, and she wouldn’t have to worry about fixing leaky roofs this way.

She had planted big crops of razorgrain, stiltbeans, mutfruit, and tatos. This settlement had food running out of its ears so to speak, but she sent a lot of it off to settlements that weren’t so agriculturally inclined. The settlers didn’t mind because she made sure they got the first choice of harder to find supplies in exchange. It was no Great Green Jewel, but it was home for the people that lived there.

A couple of settlers got up and walked out to meet the gang as they stepped into the outskirts of the settlement. They laid their woes about needing extra bedding and one of the water purifiers being on the fritz again on Nora. The woman just nodded and assured them that she would look into it.

Nora gave Nick a look before she trekked up the stairs to the upper floor of the station house to deposit her gear and get to work. Kellogg knew that look meant “keep an eye on him and don’t let him run.” He rolled his eyes.

While Nora was fiddling with the water purifier, Kellogg sat down on the end of the steps of the station house and lit up a cigarette. Nick leaned against the siding of the building, not letting the merc out of his sight.

The man eyed the synth for a few seconds before shaking out an extra from his soft pack and holding it out for him. Nick looked down and shook his head before taking out his own pack and lighting one up.

“I was never too hot on Sunlights, I’m more of a Grey Tortoise man myself,” the synth said dryly.

The mercenary was conflicted between being annoyed and amused. Annoyed by Nick’s attitude, but amused by the novelty of a smoking synth. He decided to let it go.

After a beat, Kellogg asked, “so what’s your story, anyway? Not too many Gen 2’s I know of that process on a level higher than a toaster.”

The synth crinkled his eyes at the snide remark, but answered anyway. “From what I can tell I was an Institute pet project. They extracted the personality and memories from a pre-war detective named Nick Valentine and shot them into me. Haven’t the slightest idea why, though. I woke up in a trash heap after the war, not knowing what I was or what was going on. I don’t know why the Institute never sent anyone after me, figured they’d wanna repo all their defective synths.”

Valentine was watching Kellogg, hoping for an answer. It was something he’d always wondered about and the old merc was the only guy he knew of with inside knowledge.

Kellogg sensed the silent question Nick was asking, and he had an answer. He had asked one of the assholes in the SRB about Valentine after he’d seen him around Diamond City. They knew Nick was still around, but they didn’t have any use for him. He was just a failed experiment as far as they were concerned.

Kellogg ashed his cigarette before speaking. “You’re not considered a threat.”

The detective looked out over the horizon and nodded. His electric yellow eyes took in the expanse of the Commonwealth.

Silence fell between them again and Kellogg shifted to his left to watch the vaultie tinker with her purifier. He guessed that was where the old man got his knack for making things, and thought it funny that the trait was even passed down to the kid synth.

Nora still looked as pre-war as she did in that cryopod. Her skin was still even and smooth, seemingly unaffected by the Commonwealth’s grime and radiation. Kellogg bet that she was one of the few souls left that made regular bathing a priority. He looked on as she fought an uphill battle with her dark hair, which kept falling into her eyes every few seconds as she worked on the purifier. She was pretty. She had a kind of old-world beauty you didn’t see now days outside of tattered magazines and advertisements.

She was all red lips and pale skin with with dark eyeliner and eyelashes a mile long. He didn’t personally see the point in spending time on your looks in the post-apocalypse, not a lot of people did, but he could certainly appreciate the effect. He watched sweat pour from her brow as she worked. She lifted her arm and wiped it away with the back of her hand.

She still wore that blue vault suit even after all this time traipsing the Commonwealth. She must like it, but he couldn’t imagine it could be very comfortable. But boy was he glad she did. It was absolutely skin fucking tight, and emphasized the curves of her ass beautifully. The way she moved was delicately feminine, even if she was cursing and beating the rusted metal drum in front of her. She was so out of place in the wasteland. Stuck out like a sore thumb, really. But she must have adapted well enough to make it this far.

Were all pre-war women walking pin-up girls? He’d never know. Most of the women now were calloused in every form of the word. They worked with their hands and knew how to fight. Not that the vaultie didn’t, of course. She just wasn’t brought up that way and it showed if you knew where to look.


	3. Chapter 3

Night had fallen over the Commonwealth and brought a chill to the air with it. It was January already, but that didn’t matter much anymore. Nora had yet to see snow in post-war Boston and she was beginning to wonder if snow was just another thing lost to the bombs. The climate had changed drastically. It was warm, sometimes hot, in the day time and chilly in the evening.

Most of the settlers were early risers, so they’d said their goodnights and headed to their respective bunks. Kellogg and Nick sat on a log that had been dragged near the fire pit. Dogmeat was curled up near Nora’s heels, and said woman still sat poking at the fire lost in thought.

It felt surreal to be working with her husband’s killer. She spent so long demonizing the mercenary and now she didn’t know how to feel seeing him do normal, human things. You’d like to imagine your enemies as non-human, blood drinking demons. She realized this was silly, and that even raiders weren’t constantly in “raider mode.” But this was her first time seeing the other side of the coin. In her new life, at least. She’d seen it plenty in the courtroom. It made her feel introspective and look at herself in a different way. How many times has she taken caps in exchange for wiping someone off the map? Has she been the bad guy in someone else’s story?

These thoughts made her uneasy and she tried to push them away. No, she kills raiders and supermutants and gunners. She fires on people who fire at her first…most of the time. But Kellogg had killed Nate. Nate didn’t do anything besides try to keep Shaun from being snatched.

Her thoughts drifted to her late husband. Nate was a military man. He had seen battle. She’ll never forget the way he looked when he came back from being deployed. The entire first night he just sat on their red couch in the living room, sipping bourbon. He always looked like he was a million miles away after that.

She wondered how many men Nate killed in the war. She never asked what had happened to him out on the battlefield because she was too afraid of his reaction. Nora could see what it did to him and how it crushed his spirit. Nate was never the same after he came back and she had blamed it on the military. Some of her memories from before the bombs fell are hazy, but she can perfectly recall the look on Nate’s face in the mirror the morning the world went to hell. He stared that far off stare, mumbling, “war, war never changes.”

The futility of it all killed her. The entire world turned into ash because the US and China decided on mutually assured destruction. China. “The Reds.” She remembered all of the propaganda that was shoved down their throats. They demonized an entire country because of resource scarcity. The propaganda was bullshit and she was familiar with bullshit. Her law degree could tell you as much. She remembered meeting Captain Zao on the Yangtze, and he was no Red Menace. He saw the same futility in the war that she did.

Nick’s words drug her out of her thoughts. “Hey, you okay kid?”

Nora rubbed her face and looked over to meet her friend’s glowing eyes. She gave him small smile before she spoke. “Yeah, Nick, I’m alright. I’m just tired is all. I think I’m gonna head to bed.”

The synth detective gave her a concerned look, but didn’t pry. He agreed, saying something about her needing her rest. Nora stood up and stretched wide. Her back popped and she let out a sigh. She told Nick goodnight and to wake her up if he needed anything. The synth nodded and bid her goodnight also. The vault dweller walked past the two men around the fire, giving Kellogg a look that he couldn’t quite place before she headed up to her makeshift bedroom in the station house. Dogmeat trailed after her, loyal as ever.

-

No one slept well that night at Oberland Station. Aside from Valentine, who of course didn’t sleep at all. Nora was too apprehensive about the next day and Kellogg had found it difficult to settle into slumber with the synth’s cold, yellow eyes boring holes into his back. Synths sorta gave him the creeps. When he had a squad of them tagging along, he made them stay outside the room he was bunking in so they wouldn’t watch him sleep.

While Kellogg laid in his sleeping bag beside the fire trying to catch bits of sleep, his thoughts kept drifting to Nora. He had to admit that he kind of liked her. While her determination to find her son could, objectively, be a little annoying; he admired her for it. He liked to imagine that he would be the same way if he were in her shoes looking for his little girl.

-

Nora had woken up at the absolute ass crack of dawn. She’d lied on her cot for a while and tried to doze some more, but it was to no avail. She decided to get up and stretch her legs a little. Maybe go see what Valentine was up to.

The morning air was cold on her back as she walked down the steps and over to the fire. Valentine kept the fire going all night and she was thankful for it. The detective greeted her and she sat down beside him on the old log. The woman put her arms around herself and gave a quick shiver, which Valentine took as a sign that he needed to relinquish his trench coat to her. Nora held her hand up and shook her head no, saying, “no, you keep it Nick, I’m fine I promise.” The old bot wouldn’t ever take no for an answer and she knew it, so she wasn’t the least bit surprised when he got up and she felt the heavy fabric being placed on her shoulders.

Nora bowed her head and smiled warmly as the synth returned to his seat on the log. They sat in comfortable silence for a while as they peered out from behind the fire over the foggy wasteland. Some things didn’t change much after the war, and early mornings were relatively unaffected. It was still quiet and chilly, and dew still faithfully covered what little grass there was on the ground.

The woman craned her head up a little at the synth next to her. “Hey, Valentine?”

Her voice was as sweet as ever. She spoke to him the way a trusted friend would, and he was happy to have a partner that he could rely on.

“What’cha got on your mind?”

Nora looked back out over the Commonwealth as she spoke. “Do you think I’ll find Shaun? I’m so worried this will all be for nothing.”

Nick pursed his lips and thought about it for a second. Nora could hear his processors whirring softly in the still of the morning. “I think you’ve got a better chance than anyone else out here. You got a lot stacked up against you, but you have a lot of people willing to help, too.”

They sat like that for a while until the settlers began to get up and mill around. It was about time they get to it again, and Nora said as much. They got everything they needed together and Nick gave Kellogg and unceremonious kick to the back to wake him up. The merc arose with a sneer and Nora gave the synth a disapproving look. Nick raised his hands as if to say “well what can ya do?”

Kellogg got to his feet and glared at the synth. “Cut the shit, Valentine. We’re on the same side,” he squinted before adding, “for now.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So from here I'll start spacing out posting chapters, because I don't want to get to the point that I'm writing the next chapter I'll be posting. I don't wanna hit writer's block or something and make you guys wait forever for the next chapter. Anyway, enjoy!

They set off toward Diamond City with purpose in their steps. Each footfall meant that Nora was closer to getting her son back and it gave her a renewed determination. They only hit one group of raiders as they neared the Fens and all four made quick work of them. They reached Diamond City’s gate just past noon.

The DC guard shot suspicious looks at the mercenary when the group walked past them toward the steps leading into the stadium. One guard began to ask Nick about it, but he waved it off. “He’s with us for the time being.”

Over the concrete steps and through the entryway, Diamond City was bustling. It was midday and everyone was out in force. Traders were peddling their wares in the marketplace and Nat was loudly soliciting the latest Publick. A couple caravans had arrived earlier in the morning and everyone from around town was checking out the new inventory.

Nora immediately scurried in line for Commonwealth Weaponry hoping to get a new piece from Arturo. Kellogg chuckled inwardly. _Girl after my own heart._ He was surprised as he watched the synth detective actually leave his side for the first time since their journey began, but delight soon left him when he realized what Nick was doing. Valentine spoke to one of the DC guards, very obviously pointing to the old merc and made a wide, sweeping gesture around them. He rolled his eyes.

Kellogg headed left with a quick stride. Nick began to make his way towards him, but the merc called out gruffly, “shoot on sight if I attempt to leave the premises, got it. I’m headed to my house, fuck off.”

He wasn’t followed as he passed the rusty stop signs and jogged up the steps to his old place. He hadn’t been back in a while, but he put down 5,000 caps for that shit hole and he’d be sure to kick out any squatters.

He walked in and closed the door behind him. It was quiet inside the shack and the whole place reminded him of the time he spent with the kid. When “Shaun” was here with him the radio was always on and he was constantly tinkering with something. Kellogg never imagined a day when Shaun’s clinking of metal and soft humming would be endearing. It annoyed him at the time.

Shaun would scatter his comics on the floor and just generally make a huge mess. There was never a shortage of loose bolts and tools for Kellogg to trip over. Except now, the floor was only littered with the usual Commonwealth trash and the room was deafeningly silent.

The mercenary walked through the room, switching on the radio as he passed it. He climbed up the steps to his sleeping quarters. He’d never tell anyone, but he had actually slept on the faded sleeping bag and let the kid sleep on the bed. Even if the boy wasn’t technically human, _he_ didn’t know that. Kellogg’s an asshole, but he’s not that big of an asshole.

This time, though, he sat on the dusty box springs and listened to them creak under his weight. He sat there for a while and just watched the ceiling fan spin lazily and cast shadows down the corrugate metal walls. A few minutes passed before he decided to take off his armor and lie back on the bed. He lied there for what seemed like an eternity before he was finally able to fall asleep.

-

Down at the market, Nora finished up at Myrna’s. She was able to get a sweet deal on a sawed off combat shotgun and a couple of hazmat suits, but she still stocked up on Rad-X and Rad Away just in case. She had never been to the Glowing Sea, and to be honest, the thought of that much radiation put a lump in her throat. Rad storms still freaked her out and she wasn’t excited about trucking out into a perpetual one. She deposited her gear at Homeplate before she started looking around for her companions. 

She peeked inside the Detective Agency and saw Ellie sitting behind the desk, chair swiveled around watching Piper and Nick seemingly having a heated discussion. Dogmeat had jumped up on the couch and was curled up for a nap. Nora entered the Agency fully and damn near immediately Piper’s fiery eyes were on her. 

“Blue! Are you out of your freaking _mind_?!” Piper stormed over to Nora at lightning speed. “Nat told me you guys came into town with that Kellogg guy you went looking for. I mean Jesus, I just got done writing an article about how this guy’s screwed up your _entire life_ and instead of shooting him, you hired him?!”

The vault dweller held up her hands in defense. “Woah Piper, you need to chill out for a minute, alright?” She turned her attention to Nick and asked, “where’s Kellogg?”

The synth piped up, “he went up to his old place. I let the guards in on it though, and they know to shoot him if he’s found trying to leave the city.”

Piper crossed her arms and let out a huff. “Spill it, Blue.”

Nora leaned on Ellie’s desk and layed it all out for them. Valentine added bits and pieces to the story as she spoke. Ellie, ever the quick thinker, was writing the whole thing down for the case file. When Nora was finished, they all traded glances while trying to process it all. Ellie read over her notes.

“So, when he said that the Institute’s somewhere underground with no way in or out…you don’t think he means it literally, do you? There has to be a way in and out.” Ellie pondered out loud, tapping her pencil against her mouth.

Nick took a draw from his cigarette and looked perfectly noir leaning against the wall with one arm crossed against his chest. He spoke gravely, “at this point, who knows? There’s gotta be a reason that nobody’s ever found a way into the Institute. Gotta be a reason that those bastards are able to snatch someone right out of their bed in the middle of the night without waking anyone up.”

“What are you getting at, Nick?” Piper asked.

Valentine pursed his lips. “I’m not rightly sure, but if they can make Gen 3’s…what other technology do they have up their sleeve?”

-

When Kellogg woke up, it was nearing 5 o’clock. He sat up and rubbed the bleariness out of his eyes. Cybernetic brain implant and your damn eyes are still blurry when you wake up. Typical. Kellogg slept better than he had in a while. They’d transported one of those Institute beds to Fort Hagen for him, but he never liked them. They were way too damn firm for his back. He had grown up on dilapidated spring mattresses and he slept on those the best.

He scratched the back of his neck walked down the steps slowly, still waking up from his nap. He _almost_ jumped when he heard a voice call out to him from across the room. His eyes snapped up to the figure sitting on his couch and relaxed a little bit when he realized it wasn’t a courser.

Kellogg sat down in his wooden chair next to the desk and said, “shit, ice-cube, you scared the hell outta me.” 

Nora gazed disapprovingly at the old mercenary, obviously displeased by the nickname.

He added, “not that I’m complaining about waking up to a beautiful woman in my house. So what’s the special occasion?”

The woman looked down and scratched her forehead in an attempt to hide the blush creeping up her face. Why was she blushing? _Get ahold of yourself, the fuck is wrong with you?_ She cleared her throat and put her hand down, hoping she’d had enough time to hide her flush.

“Uh, no, so I was just making sure you didn’t bolt,” she said.

“Well if everyone and their mother doesn’t stop breathing down my neck, I might not feel so inclined.”

Nora eyed him.

“I’m not gonna run away, ice-cube. Calm down.” Kellogg muttered.

He shook out a cigarette for himself, but paused before he returned them to his jacket pocket. He held the soft pack out to Nora and raised his eyebrows a little.

The vault dweller sat for a beat then got up to take one of his cigarettes. She said, “you know, I never got a chance to try these.” She ran the cigarette under her nose, smelling it, while Kellogg took his flip lighter out. “You don’t find a lot of them around the Commonwealth.”

The merc held a light out for her and she instinctively cupped the lighter as she bent down to stick her cigarette in the flame. It was strangely intimate.

Kellogg watched her intently. He studied her face and she looked up at him through her eyelashes just before backing away. He made an effort to commit that split second to memory, because _damn_ she looked good. Kellogg wasn’t a proud man, so he watched her swagger back to the sofa and averted his gaze to light his cigarette just before she turned around to sit. 

“So I guess we’re going to hunker down in the city for the night and leave in the morning, huh?” The mercenary asked.

Nora nodded as she took in a lungful of smoke. After exhaling, she replied, “that’s the plan. Might as well get a good night’s sleep and head out in the morning.”

Conversation lulled for a few moments and the air felt tense. Nora hadn’t talked to the man much since she met him, mostly because she didn’t know what to say. 

“These are pretty good.” She offered, feeling out of place.

Kellogg hummed in agreement. “I like to think I have good taste. In some aspects, at least.”

Another silence fell between them, but this one was longer. Nora wanted to ask him so many questions but she didn’t know where to start. They ranged from crass: “so how did it feel to murder my husband in cold blood?” to legitimate: “how is Shaun? Is he smart? What does he look like?”

She eventually decided to just talk about their current undertaking. “So, we’re going into the Glowing Sea to find a bioscientist, right? How can he help us?”

Kellogg replied, “his name’s Brian Virgil. He’s the only egghead from the Institute I know of that’s gone rogue, so he’s got nothing to lose by finding us a way back into the Institute.”

“But how does he live in the Glowing Sea? Wouldn’t he die from radiation poisoning?” She asked.

Kellogg butted his cigarette in the ashtray before standing to his feet. He spoke, “look, uh, Nora is it?” She nodded. He continued, “if we’re going to have a big, long discussion about this shit, I need a drink and a better place to sit.”

-

The two filed out the door and headed down the steps. Diamond City was beginning to wind down a little bit and it wasn’t the crowded, controlled chaos it was mere hours ago. There were still a few hours of sunlight left, but the low hanging sun still cast everything in a warm orange.

It was no secret that the Dugout Inn was a shit hole. Like everywhere else in the Commonwealth, it was musty and the ceilings hung low as side effect of nuclear annihilation. The prehistoric blue wallpaper peeled off in sheets and you had to watch out for little bits of concrete falling every now and then from the cracked ceilings. The vault dweller assumed that the entire concept of regular maintenance had been lost after the bombs fell. As long as they had somewhere to get cheap booze, the populace of Diamond City didn’t seem to care about the atmosphere of the establishment. Or if they did, no one ever mentioned it.

Inside, the small radio sitting on the bar top broadcasted Travis’ static laden voice as he stumbled nervously through an announcement. The place was by no means crowded, but there were some locals milling around talking to each other or eating dinner. Hawthorne was leaning against the port-a-diner by the entrance trying to look scary, probably per Vadim’s request.

Vadim’s eyes latched onto the pair as they entered and he shouted in his usual loud, excitable tone, “Mister Kellogg! Nice to see you again my friend! It’s been a long time, yes? How about a drink!”

As they neared the bar the Russian turned his attention to the vault dweller. “Ah Miss Nora too! I didn’t know you knew Mister Kellogg. Best customer yes? Always buying more!”

The merc kept his usual stoic facade and walked to the bar to buy his drink while Nora scouted out an unoccupied couch to take over. There was an empty love seat pushed back against the wall that seemed secluded enough to keep their conversation confidential.

After a minute the merc plopped down on the love seat beside her. He held up a drink. “You do drink, right?”

She rolled her eyes before she nodded and took the bourbon he proffered. 

Kellogg sipped his own bourbon and began explaining the whole shebang. He touched on FEV, what the Institute had done to Virgil, and what his objective had been before he got wise to their shit.

Nora cut in, “so wait, if Virgil thinks you’re coming to kill him, why do you even think he’ll cooperate with us?”

It was a good point and Kellogg had been pondering it himself. “We might have to come up with something on the fly for that one. Worse comes to worst? You go in and try to charm your way through it while I wait outside playing backup.”

Nora didn’t like that plan and her facial expression said as much. Kellogg gestured with his free hand towards her, slicing his hand through the air.

“You’re the one that wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer back at Hagen, so don’t give me that look.”

The woman’s mouth drew into a tight line and Kellogg deposited his now empty glass on the coffee table in front of them. He added, “one more thing, though.” He’d taken on a more serious countenance. The merc leaned towards her so that he could speak without anyone overhearing. His nose pushed through her hair and brushed the shell of her ear. She felt his hot breath ghost over her ear as his gravelly voice pitched low, “in the morning, it would be best if we get moving straight away. The Institute has eyes everywhere and I wouldn’t be surprised if we encounter a couple of coursers along the way.”

The vault dweller couldn’t breathe. Her brain was trying to play catch up and piece together what he had said, but she hadn’t been paying attention to his words. The sound of his voice shot through her like a rocket, and his breath on her ear made her mind whorl.

The old merc had gotten up to retrieve another drink which graciously gave Nora a little bit of time to take hold of herself. The closeness of him had knocked her off kilter. To her, Kellogg represented the death of Nate and the loss of Shaun. He was danger, and she held him in her mind as an adversary since she escaped the vault. For a long time, it was like he was a ghost story to tell around the campfire. The ultimate boogeyman. This mix of emotions she’d been facing since he agreed to help her find Shaun was mind boggling and left her feeling conflicted. 

When she walked into Fort Hagen, she wanted him to be the devil that she was so sure he was. It bothered her that he kept telling her to leave over the intercom instead of manically recounting her worst memories. It bothered her that when she met him face to face he wanted to talk instead of just going in for the kill. It bothered her that he wasn’t acting like the psychopath she wanted him to be.

In the courtroom before the war she saw all kinds of criminals. She was a defense attorney, so it was her job to make the jury see that there’s no hard-line, black and white in the world. Up on the stand she painted stories in grey attempting to show that nearly everyone has a reason for what they do.

After she fell out of that cryopod she let go of that kind of logic. She learned that it was different when you’re on the receiving end of the injustice. Kellogg and the Institute had to be monsters because of what the did to her. She hated them, so they had to be evil. Nora had been fine with having to work with Kellogg in order to recover Shaun. It was necessary if she was going to ever find her son.

But that didn’t mean that she had to like him. That didn’t mean that they had to be friendly with each other. To Kellogg’s credit, he hadn’t been a bastard to her even once since she spoke with him at Hagen. Teasing nicknames aside.

The problem is that he was the monster hiding in her closet, so why does it excite her now that the same monster is whispering in her ear? She needed to get out of the situation and she needed time to get her head on straight. She had to get out.

Nora stood just as Kellogg returned to the love seat. The woman quickly said something about needing to pack her bag and head to bed early and she made a B line for Homeplate.


	5. Chapter 5

Nora wrestled with her thoughts so much that night that she didn’t sleep very well. She had gotten up early to bathe, eat, and worry. She tried to tell herself she was just anxious about the trip to the Glowing Sea. That it was just the fear of the road that lied ahead. Just before the sun rose over the Commonwealth she went to the Agency to regroup. Valentine went over the case again, but they decided that they hadn’t missed any key facts.

The sky was turning pink when Kellogg heard a knock on his door. When he opened it he was surprised to only see the vault suit clad woman with two large packs standing in front of him. The chilly morning breeze wafted through the door into his little shack. The merc’s nose was met with the scent of hubflowers and soap.

“Where’s the rest of the welcoming committee?” He queried, peeking behind her a little to drive home his point.

Nora ran a hand through her dark hair before she spoke. “I don’t think even a blind man could miss the fact that you and Nick don’t exactly get along. Plus I don’t want you feeling ‘over-supervised’ and running off on me.”

Nora said the last part with a dubious smile and Kellogg took the jab gracefully. If it meant that he wasn’t going to get stared down every second on the road then he’d take it.

They decided that the best plan of action after they got out of the city was to stay off the roads and move fast. Kellogg reiterated the need for caution. The further south they went the worse the weather got. Thunderstorms were frequent and by the time they got around Egret Tours Marina it had turned into a full blown rad storm. Though it wasn’t terribly late in the day, they decided to make camp here before they ventured into the Glowing Sea. The mercenary made the comment that it would be much safer to stop here than to be caught out in the Sea for the night.

There was an old, crotchety woman who apparently took up residence at the Marina, and when Nora tried to talk her way into spending the night there she was quickly cursed out and they were told to get off her property. The vault dweller sized up the place as they left and made a mental note to return and try to recruit it for the Minutemen.

Kellogg pointed out that the old bridge beside the property was sheltered enough to make camp for the night. It wouldn’t do much in the way of rads, but at least it would keep any acid rain off their heads.

They decided to scout out the area and decimate a horde of supermutants not too far from the bridge. By the time they returned to their makeshift base, night had fallen on the Commonwealth. Kellogg built up a big fire and Nora sat in the dirt staring at the sickly green glow across the river in the distance. The merc sat down on the dirt next to her.

“I figured the ‘Glowing’ part of the Glowing Sea was a figurative thing. I didn’t actually think it would glow.” Nora thought out loud as she poked at the fire with a stick.

Kellogg was rustling through his pack for a can of Cram when she spoke. He huffed as he pulled one out and began prying it open. “Yeah. Makes ya feel real safe, right?”

“Not that I feel real safe to begin with,” she said indignantly without thinking. Kellogg remained silent as he cubed up the processed meat to stick on skewers. Nora felt bad about her comment and tried to think of a way to make it a joke, but she was grasping at straws.

The merc handed her a skewer of meat to cook over the fire and she muttered a small “thanks” when she grabbed it. He held his out and the flames lapped over the meat, producing sounds of popping and a smell damn close to bacon. Nora looked down at her skewer and twirled it in her hands. Why was she being an asshole?

After a minute or two of heavy silence, Nora piped up. “Hey, uh, you like Nuka-Cola? I’ve got some in my pack.”

The merc continued staring into the fire as he replied, “you don’t have to. I got water.”

The woman chewed on her lip a little. She rummaged around in her pack and produced two bottles of cola, extending one to Kellogg. He took it and she started searching her bag again. She spoke to ease the tension. “You have no idea how much better these things tasted 200 years ago. I’m kind of surprised it’s still so popular around the wasteland, to be honest.”

This time she took out a bottle and fished something out of it. She held her had out to him again, but this time she had two tablets cradled in her palm.

“Here, it’s Rad-X. We’re gonna need it this close to the Sea. I promise I’m not trying to poison you,” she said with a small smile.

He took the tablets and she popped two of her own, washing them down with Nuka-Cola. They sat there quietly for a while, just cooking their meals and eating in silence. Nora searched for something to say but nothing sounded good. She looked to her right and studied his metal-clad arm. She’d never seen such a thing on anyone else during her time in the Commonwealth and absentmindedly wondered if there was a story behind it.

__

Kellogg noticed her interest in his arm. He spoke, jarring Nora out of her thoughts, “the Institute outfitted me with a bunch of tech a while back in exchange for working with them. I’m sure they just wanted a test subject, but I didn’t complain.” He inspected his hand while he opened and closed it. “I’ve got something called a cybernetic limb actuator or some such shit in this hand. Makes me stronger and faster. That’s why I told you to watch it with those pulse grenades.”

He realized that it was stupid to give up information so freely to someone he barely knew, but if they were to be fighting alongside each other, he figured it would benefit him if she didn’t destroy his implants inadvertently.

Nora was interested, so Kellogg continued: “I’ve got another implant in my brain and a pain inhibitor in my spine. They give me a leg up in combat and extend my life cycle. I don’t look it, but I was actually born in 2179.”

The vault dweller’s face twisted in disbelief. “Holy shit. That’s a.. that’s amazing.”

Kellogg nodded, face stoic. He replied, “108 years is a long time to live in this apocalyptic shit hole…”

The merc trailed off and Nora could see he was deep in thought. She wanted to ask about it, about his life.

“Look, you don’t have to answer, but…what did you mean when you told me you know what it’s like to have your family ripped away?” Nora spoke with quiet hesitation. She knew she was prying and she didn’t know how he would react. He had already told her so much.

The mercenary furrowed his brow and frowned as he grabbed another ratty log to feed the fire. When he spoke his voice was low and full of rumination, “I used live out west. NCR territory, if you have any idea about that. I was running security for the Shi…some Chinese research operation. Bunch’a assholes.”

Kellogg drew quiet and stared ahead at the fire. He watched the flames lick up the logs, casting shadows that danced on the walls of the bridge. He never talked to anyone about his family. He kept those memories locked up tight within his own mind. Nora was asking a lot of him, but maybe she deserved an answer. He had taken away her family. At least she’d understand where he was coming from.

The woman in the blue vault suit almost gave up on the conversation, figuring he was done by the time he continued. “I married a girl named Sarah. She was a firecracker with a take-no-shit attitude when I met her. We had a daughter named Mary. She was just a baby…”The merc cracked a small smile. “God, I didn’t deserve her. Looked just like her mother, too…I was so happy.”

Nora looked down to her lap. She felt like an intruder in his memories. The uncomfortable feeling she had been battling these past few days crept back up on her. He had a family, hopes and dreams…everything that clashed with her image of Kellogg: the monster. The merc continued speaking and stroked the scar that ran along his face while he spoke.

“...the thing about happiness is that you only know you had it when it's gone. Sarah and Mary were murdered by some group of thugs. Thought they were real tough shit. One of them tried fucking with the Shi and I was ordered to go put him down…they found out about my girls and decided to get revenge I guess…”

The merc’s expression was cold. “I killed them all. Every single one of the bastards. I’ll never forget what one of them said to me. Said ‘they died like dogs.’ Well, I returned the favor.”

Nora clung to his words. Kellogg looked over to her. “I got cold, after that. I headed as far east as I could just to get away. I worked as a hired gun and if you had the caps, I was your man.”

The fire threw harsh shadows over their faces and the wind blew easy underneath the crumbling bridge. The air was getting chilly and the crackling of radiation could be heard in the distance. Nora didn’t know what to say, so she kept quiet.

“So I’m sorry about your husband…and I know that means nothing to you, but I know how you feel.”

The woman felt as conflicted as ever. She knew that she shouldn’t have any sympathies for Kellogg, but that didn’t change the fact that she __did__. She’d always been empathetic almost to a fault, and that hadn’t changed post-war. Everything he said stacked up evidence against her case of him being an unfeeling devil. She so wanted him to be the boogeyman.

Nora’s voice came out foreign to her own ears. It was small and quiet, almost like a child’s. She asked him, “did…did the Institute tell you to kill Nate?”

He responded, “they told me to shoot him if he resisted. They said they were they were only going to reactivate the mother’s life support anyway, so it didn’t matter if something had to be done. He wouldn’t be allowed to live. Too much of a threat, I’m guessing.”

The vault dweller’s eyes brimmed with tears and she looked away. Nate had been doomed no matter what. He was either going to suffocate in one of those damned cryopods like the rest of them or get shot trying to keep Shaun safe. Those fucking Institute bastards. Nora tried to keep it together and breathed slowly. She wasn’t a fan of crying in front of people, much less people she wasn’t well acquainted with. Kellogg remained silent as Nora composed herself and she was grateful for the gesture.

The woman finally turned back to Kellogg without tears in her eyes, but she still looked miserable. She asked, her still voice thick, “can I have a cigarette?”

The merc patted the breast-pockets of his leather jacket before determining which one held his cigarettes. He handed her the pack and she fished two out for the both of them before handing them back to Kellogg. He flipped his lighter open and she lit her cigarette.

The pair sat in a sad silence while they smoked. Nora twirled her hair with her free hand. As much as Kellogg hated it, in that very moment he felt like a bastard.

“What was he like?” Kellogg asked.

The vault dweller’s brows furrowed before a small smile graced her red lips. She started, “Nate was…he was a good man. We met when we bumped into each other at a Slocum Joe’s while I was in college. He was goofy and we laughed a lot.” Nora laughed, “we got married right after he enlisted in the military so we’d get the benefits…though I’m sure that doesn’t make any sense to anyone now. He got deployed and fought in the Battle of Anchorage…” Her eyes squinted. “He was able to come back on leave after I had the baby. He was happy, or he tried to be, but something happened to him when he was in the war. It changed him. We didn’t laugh like we used to and he’d just stare off sometimes. He started drinking a lot and I knew he was struggling.”

Nora took another drag from her smoke. “I talked him into going to see a therapist about a week before the bombs. You probably don’t even know what a therapist is,” she laughed, realizing she was making no sense. “He was going to go get help and try to sort out what he’d seen while fighting in the war. But then the world went to shit, and here I am.”

The mercenary nodded and watched her while she spoke. He watched the firelight flicker across her face and he watched the hurt show in her eyes when she talked about her husband. It had been so long since he had a human conversation with anybody. It was something he tried to avoid for so, so long. After Sarah, after Mary, he was cold and only spoke business. Didn’t want to chance getting attached to anyone. But right now…he was enjoying talking to her. He decided to change the subject to something less grave.

“What was it like before all this? I can’t really imagine anything out here looking new.” He gestured wide, to the bridge above them and the surrounding areas.

This brought a giant grin to Nora’s face. “It was amazing! I wish you could have been there to see it. Everything was clean and every piece of metal you see now was shiny. There was hardly any rust on anything. There were robots in all the stores helping you out, there were colors everywhere,” she paused to take a breath. She had started doing that thing that Kellogg noticed the other day where she talks a little higher and moves her hands a lot. It was __definitely__  cute, he thought. “That’s something I miss a lot, actually. Everything in the wasteland is all muted tones. Before the war you’d see reds and blues and pinks everywhere. Any color you can imagine. Painting everything mint green was a big fad too.”

Nora pulled up her legs and drew her knees into her chest, hugging them. She rested her chin on her knees, her eyes wide and bright. She continued, “All this food that’s left over from before the war? It’s the shit that nobody wanted to eat. Instead of Cram, we’d be eating ham. Blam-Co Mac and Cheese? It doesn’t hold a candle to the real stuff.”

She turned her head so she could look at him and rested her cheek on her knee. “The resource war kind of messed everything up, but…instead of fixing something that was broken we just threw it away and got a new one. Everyone was clean. Everyone __smelled nice__.”

The merc let out a chuckle and responded. “Well shit, ice-cube, I may not be pre-war but I can take a hint.”

The woman laughed and gave him a gentle shove. An actual, good humored laugh. And Kellogg couldn’t help it, but it made him smile. Nora’s laughter died down and they looked at each other in what was probably the only comfortable silence they’d shared together. Nora’s eyes reflected the light of the fire and her white teeth were visible in her smile. She looked so small and dainty in that moment, all curled in on herself. __Nate was damn lucky__ , the merc thought.

Nora was a beautiful woman, Kellogg admitted to himself. She was also a strong woman. Even after the Commonwealth had beat down on her she still knew how to carry herself. She was still a giving person and if Valentine was any indication, she had a lot of good friends that trusted her with the world. And even now, here she was being the bigger person and sharing laughs with the man who killed her husband.

Kellogg wished that he would have turned out like her after Sarah died. He wished that he had it in him to be the bigger person; to be forgiving and kind. But he wasn’t like Nora. He was an old, scarred up mercenary 30 years past his expiration date.

Kellogg spoke up through the lull in their conversation. “Hey Nora, I got a pre-war question for you.”

Her interest piqued and she smiled warmly at him. He thought it was absolutely intoxicating.

“Shoot.” She replied, all smile and bright eyes.

The merc wet his lips before he spoke, “were all the women so beautiful before the war?”

The vault dweller’s face flushed hot and she suddenly felt too warm next to the fire. She drew up a hand to tuck some hair behind her ear. She let out a small laugh because she didn’t know what else to do at the moment. __Are we flirting right now?__   _ _This is not actually happening.__  She thought to herself.

Kellogg, thinking her blush and floundering as sufficient an answer as any, hauled himself up and stretched his back. He said, “alright ice-cube, I’ll take the first watch. You go ahead and get some sleep.”

The woman, again grateful for the out that Kellogg was giving her, voiced her agreement a little too quickly and got up to lay out her sleeping bag. The mercenary jaunted down towards the edge of the bridge nearest the water to lean and keep watch. He unholstered his .44 and kept it in hand as he crossed his arms.

The woman clambered into her ratty orange sleeping back and pulled up her pack to use and a makeshift pillow. Her mind was still buzzing from his overt flirtation and her cheeks felt warm again just thinking about it. She tried to tell herself that it was weird and it was __wrong__  to feel this way, but she kept replaying it in her mind regardless. It felt nice. Piper would probably slap her for allowing it if the reporter were here. She could nearly hear the other woman in her head. “Blue what the __hell__  is wrong with you?! Are you nuts?!”

Nora smiled at the thought of her friend and settled into slumber. She called out goodnight to Kellogg before she drifted into sleep.

The mercenary flitted between watching the road above, the fire, and the vault dweller’s sleeping figure. He stood there a long time thinking about their conversation. Guilt began steeping into him when he remembered his earlier dilemma about telling Nora about her son. Her __real__ son. She was starting to grow on him and it felt like a sort of betrayal he was committing by not telling her the truth. This is exactly why he stopped talking to people. It was better being cold. She hadn’t asked about it, but Jesus Christ how would she even know to ask?

That night, though he would vehemently deny it if anyone had seen, the mercenary made sure to slink into Egret Tours’ derelict gift shop to snatch a bar of soap. And he wouldn’t admit to it, but he certainly took some time to head down to the river and bathe before Nora woke up for her round of guard duty.


	6. Chapter 6

The pair were up at 6 so that they could eat breakfast (if more Cram, Nuka-Cola, and a double dose of Rad-X could count as breakfast) and get ready for their journey. Kellogg noticed that Nora kept gazing out on the Glowing Sea in the distance with a worried look on her face as she ate her food. He didn’t say anything at first, but as he watched her apprehension rise he felt the need to reassure her. 

“You okay over there?” He said over a mouthful of Cram. He grabbed his pistol and held it up. “We’ll be fine. You got us those suits and we have plenty of fire power.”

The vault dweller looked at him, her brows still knitted and her face in a tight line. She asked, “have you ever been through the Glowing Sea?”

The merc nodded. “Sure. It’s a total wreck and it’s got more creepy crawlies than the rest of the Commonwealth combined, but we’ll be fine.”

They ate the rest of their meal in silence and Nora’s face never lost that worried look. 

They both scrambled up the side of the rocky hill up to the road above them and gazed out on either side of the bridge. The bridge had been drawn up half way when the bombs fell, but one side was just too high for them to be able to jump it. The agreed that they’d have to swim over to the other side of the river, which Nora wasn’t thrilled about, in order to get across.

“That Pip-Boy of yours waterproof?” The merc asked offhandedly. Nora nodded at him.

“Weirdly enough, yeah it is. I just hope our guns and ammo make it okay.”

They both swam through the murky, irradiated water. Nora had always hated swimming in rivers and lakes because she couldn’t see the bottom. She felt like something was going to grab her and pull her into the depths. This silly fear didn’t seem so silly now that all the native fauna was horrifically mutated. She tried her best not to think about it and was happy when they reached the other side.

Kellogg counted having to swim across that river as one of the best damn things that happened to him in his miserable life, because the only thing better than a skin tight vault suit is a wet skin tight vault suit. Jesus H. Christ, the way her body looked was almost criminal. 

Nora flipped her wet hair back and wiped the water out of her eyes. As she recovered the merc took in as much of her as he could. Her vault suit had been dyed a deeper blue from the water and clung to her tightly. The damn thing looked like it was painted on. Nipples, hardened by the cold river water and the light breeze, poked through her vault suit.

Now, Nora wasn’t stupid. She could feel his eyes on her. She bent over to retrieve her hazmat suit out of her pack and held there for a few more seconds than was truly necessary. Back before the war, before her and Nate got married, she loved being a tease. Of course over time her and Nate fell into the easy comfort of a relationship and there were fewer butterflies-in-your-stomach moments. But she missed the feeling of being able to get someone going with less than an eyelash flutter, so she relished it. Even if nothing would come of it, she decided she might as well indulge a little bit. 

The vault dweller shimmied into her protective gear and Kellogg followed suit. Once geared up and ready to go, Kellogg motioned for her to give him her wrist. He grabbed her Pip-Boy and marked a location on its map. 

“It gets pretty hectic in there, so hopefully this will help us know where we’re heading.” He mentioned. 

They trekked as far as the road wold let them and successfully avoided a sleeping deathclaw at the Robotics Pioneer Park. When they hit the edge of the Glowing Sea, with all of its destroyed expressways and the beginnings of scorched earth, Nora stopped for a moment to take it in. The utter destruction brought her back to when she was standing on the vault platform watching the mushroom cloud of a nuclear warhead rise up into the sky. It was eerie and it made her throat feel tight. 

The mercenary touched her shoulder gingerly and Nora snapped back to the present. They continued on past trees that looked like nothing more than toothpicks and started hitting major spikes of radiation. The Geiger counter on Nora’s wrist was going crazy and she had to turn down the volume so she wouldn’t alert the whole Sea of their presence. The mud under their feet began to turn orange as the ventured further; and hot, irradiated puddles of water began sprouting up. The surface of the water took on an unearthly sheen akin to oil on pavement.

Even through their thick helmets they could hear the disturbing howl of winds as they picked up speed. Radioactive lightning clapped around them and the green smoke from nearby geysers was being blown in their direction. Gales of wind carried what sounded like screams over the wasteland. Up ahead Nora could faintly make out a mass moving toward them. As the figure hurled towards them Kellogg grabbed Nora by the hand and hauled them both up on the undercarriage of a flipped car. 

“Radscorpion! Stay off the ground!” He yelled to her, voice muffled by his helmet.

The vault dweller made out what he was saying and it freaked her out. “A fucking what?!”

The dark figure dove underground and the pair searched the landscape for any signs of where it would emerge. About twenty feet away it burst through the ground, hissing and snapping its claws. Kellogg fired on it and Nora got in a few shots before it fell.

The earth rumbled from the east and they turned to behold a large deathclaw that had been alerted by their fire fight running full speed towards them. Nora fired first, emptying an entire clip into the monster. They scrambled off the car to kite the beast around as they popped off shots. The deathclaw clawed at the earth, throwing dirt and enormous rocks in Kellogg’s direction, and he dove from it. Nora continued firing into the beast’s belly while its attention was on her companion.

Their opponent turned to Nora and howled. Kellogg took the opportunity to run up and deal the final blow with his .44. The beast swiped before keeling over, taking the merc off guard. The man caught two claws up his belly and chest.

Nora yelled for Kellogg as she watch him get hit. She hurried to him as she saw blotches of red bleed through the fabric of his hazmat suit. 

“Fuck are you okay?!” The vault dweller exclaimed, coming in close to inspect the damage.

The mercenary was calm and collected and he dug through his pack searching for a Stimpak. He told her, “I’ll be good, ice-cube. Times like these I’m damn glad to have that pain inhibitor though.”

He pushed through the rips in his suit and Nora heard the hiss of his Stimpak being injected. She watched and his bleeding subsided. She scrambled to get him more Rad-X from her pack to give to him since his suit was now compromised.

The pair trudged on south-west as the radstorm continued to rage around them. The vault dweller checked her Pip-Boy every few minutes to ensure they were on the right track. 

At last they came upon the rocky mouth of a cave and they halted. They briefly discussed their plan of action as they entered the cave. Kellogg stopped short right before the tunnel turned so that he wouldn’t be seen. Nora proceeded, dodging the tin cans hanging from the ceiling and walking past the twin turrets protecting the entrance. The spotlight shined in her face and her eyes had to adjust back to the darkness around her. The walking into the adjoining cavern past relic computer consoles to come face to face with a towering supermutant. 

She stared up at him for a moment before removing her helmet and holding it to her side. He was certainly the most peculiar mutant she’d ever laid eyes on. He wore glasses ten times too small for his hulking face and had on a foreign looking, ripped up lab coat.

The supermutant boomed at her. “Take it nice and slow. No sudden moves…”

The woman did as he said and moved toward him slowly. She put on her most charismatic voice and said, “ woah there, I don’t mean you any harm. Are you Brian Virgil?”

Virgil sneered at her before raising his voice. “I know you’re from the Institute, so where’s Kellogg, huh? Trying to distract me while he sneaks in here?”

Nora held a hand up and the mutant eyed her warily. She lied, “Kellogg’s not here, and I’m not with the Institute. I came here because I need your help.”

The bioscientist grunted and said in a disbelieving tone, “My help? With what?”

The woman shifted her feet and tried to conjure her most sincere look to offer. Bits of dirt dislodged from the ceiling as the radstorm howled outside. “I need to get into the Institute. They stole my son, and I’m going to get him back.”

The supermutant’s face twisted into disbelief. “What? You’re trying to get into the Institute? Are you insane?!”

Nora swallowed dryly and Virgil continued. “Never mind how nearly impossible that is, but even if you succeeded it’d almost certainly end in your immediate death.”

The mutant saw how his words were affecting the woman in front of him. He paused for a moment before continuing. “I’m sorry. I can understand why you would want to get in there. The Institute’s taken people in the past…I may be able to help, but I’m going to need something in return.”

The woman felt absolutely overjoyed by his words. She was finally making headway after all this time. Maybe her son was within reach after all. Nora shook her head and gestured emphatically with her hands, “anything! I just want to get my baby back.”

Virgil relaxed a little and explained to her what he needed. That he had found a cure for FEV, but he wasn’t able to escape with it when he left the Institute. He needed that serum and he was willing to help her get into the Institute in exchange for its recovery.

The vault dweller agreed with vigor, saying, “absolutely, Virgil. I help you, you help me.”

Virgil and Nora talked details. He explained how the Institute utilizes a molecular relay to get people in and out, and that coursers are outfitted by design with a chip that hooks them into the relay. He told her that she needed to recover one of those chips out of a courser’s brain. The man explained that the primary insertion point for relaying in and out of the Institute is located in the ruins of the old CIT, and that she would have the best chances of finding a courser there.

He finished by saying, “I’m not going to lie. The odds aren’t in your favor. But if you do manage to get into the Institute, remember the serum. I need it badly…and, I do hope you find your son. Good luck.”

Nora gushed, thanking him as fervently as she could without sounding insincere. She promised him that she would get his serum. 

The woman left the cave and smiled wide at Kellogg when she passed him. She screwed on her helmet and ventured back out into the Glowing Sea, ready to take on anything that may lie in her path.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys??? Long time no see. So I had this chapter typed up already and I've been re-vamping a few others. That being said, if anyone is still interested in this fic, I would be so grateful for any thoughts on where this should go. I had other chapters written but I apparently trashed some of them, and I'm struggling with deciding on how the plot should pan out. Suuuuper open to suggestions (and if you find any typos I'd love to know also.) So.....enjoy!

As soon as the pair made it out of the Glowing Sea and hit open air, Nora was gushing. She actually cried tears of joy and it hit Kellogg right in the heart. He decided that he needed to tell her the truth about Shaun, but he had to find the right time. The right words. And he had no idea where to start.

The sun hung low in the sky and instead of bunking down under the old bridge again, they walked along the side of the shore closest to the Sea and kept their eyes peeled for any suitable shelter.

They happened upon what used to be a quaint little gas station. It was was a tiny two story house where the first floor had been used for customers and the living quarters were on the second floor. There were beat up vending machines lining the outside of the establishment and a Red Rocket licensed fuel pump to the right of the house. The place had been boarded up since before the bombs fell, and those were some of Nora’s favorite places. Wastelanders hadn’t put in the work to rip up the boards to wreck the place and she had fun imagining who might have lived there 200 years ago.

The mercenary worked on the boards covering the door while Nora scouted around the property, taking out any enemies she came upon. There was a mausoleum a few yards behind the house and she went inside to check it out. Mirelurks had made a nest inside and Nora pocketed a couple of eggs before she stomped the others. In the distance she could hear the wailing of a mirelurk king, and she ran outside to make quick work of it.

When the vault dweller came back to the house she found Kellogg snooping around and taking inventory of any useful supplies lying unclaimed. She guessed that the gas station went out of business shortly before the bombs, because most of the shelving was bare and the cash register was empty. 

The woman climbed the stairs to check out the living area. It was essentially a one-room deal with a small bathroom near the top of the stairs. Thankfully, the previous owners were the kind people that didn’t bother cleaning out their shit when they moved, so there was still a mattress and a small couch. Nora found a closet and after rummaging through a lot of junk she found a few pillows and blankets. 

Blankets were, strangely enough, very difficult to find in the Commonwealth. Nora didn’t understand it. All it took was a single piece of uncut fabric. She heard the merc’s footsteps coming up the stairs and she turned to find him carrying an armload of candles he’d found. He placed them on a barren dresser and lit them with his flip lighter. It pained Nora to see the untouched wood get ruined by melting wax, but she said nothing.

They made a fire in an empty metal barrel just outside the house and Nora was able to craft some scrounged wire into a makeshift stove top. She used one of the abandoned pots from the home to cook up a mirelurk omelette of sorts, with bits of the king she’d taken out earlier. 

The pair sat outside near the fire barrel and ate their food. The warmth of the barrel kept the chill off them. Mirelurk eggs were reptilian and fishy, but they fluffed up okay when you cooked them and at the very least it was something fresher than Cram. 

They traded plans on getting to CIT and where to stop along the way. Kellogg joked that if they were lucky, the Institute might just send a courser to their doorstep and save them a trip. Nora worried about taking on a courser, the way everyone else talked about them they sounded super-human. The merc was good in a fight, though, and she wasn’t too bad herself, so she held out faith that it would work out alright. 

There’d been a lull in the conversation and Kellogg’s thoughts were on how he was going to tell Nora about her son. He didn’t want her to freak out and run off because that would be a stupid move, and okay, maybe he liked having her around a little bit. He wondered where he’d be left after it was all over. Once she got into the Institute, what would she do? Would she stay?

He supposed he would go back to working alone. If it all went to shit, he’d let Nora zap into the Institute and book it south. He’d never been too far down that way. Maybe he could get a fresh start. 

But is that what he really wanted? A fresh start? He was an old man, whether he looked it or not. He was sick of starting fresh. He was sick of taking orders and he was sick of being on the run. 

Kellogg ran his hands down his face and held them there. What was he turning into? A fucking softie? He wasn’t sure if he wanted to spend the rest of his life stagnant, however God-awfully long that may be, or if he would prefer to pop his lips over his .44 and check out on his own terms. 

The vault dweller had been watching Kellogg and she recognized his internal turmoil. She put down her plate and grabbed his shoulder which caused the merc to jump a little bit. He wasn’t used to being touched.

Nora spoke with a little concern in that silky voice of hers. “Hey, Kellogg? You okay?”

Kellogg nodded and balanced his outstretched arm on his left leg, which was bent near his chest. His brow creased between his eyes a little. “Nora, I need to tell you about something. You’re not gonna like it, and I don’t like having to be the one to tell you.”

The woman in question’s eyes widened with concern. She looked genuinely scared. All kinds of things ran through her mind at that moment. Shaun’s dead. The Institute doesn’t exist. This is all a set up. 

Nora asked, uncertain. “What?”

The mercenary ran his hands along his balding scalp and let out a sigh. Here goes.

“God, I don’t even know where to start. So that kid I was running around with in Diamond City. He’s actually a synth replica of your son. Of Shaun.” 

Nora sat in stunned silence. She was terrified of what was going to come out of his mouth next. She didn’t want to hear it, she wanted to run away, but she knew she had to listen. This was important.

The mercenary looked genuinely upset while he spoke. “That doesn’t mean your son is dead or anything, though. He’s just…older than you expected. A lot older than you expected.” Kellogg looked down in his lap and studied his hands. He wasn’t used to doing this. He wasn’t used to breaking bad news to someone. He continued, “Nora, your son’s the head of the Institute. He’s the Director of the god damned thing…they call him ‘Father.’”

For a moment, a millisecond, Nora felt like she ceased to exist. She felt like she had been engulfed into darkness. Her mind was running at a million miles an hour and her stomach was in her throat. Tears prickled her eyes and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry, or scream, or both.

The merc added quietly, “I just…I thought you should know. Before you get in there. I don’t know what they’re going to tell you, or if they’re going to try and bullshit with you…but I thought you had the right to know.”

The silence that fell upon them was deafening. It felt like time had stopped. Not a breeze, not a cricket, not a damn thing threatened to break Nora’s trance for fear of releasing another nuclear blast. Kellogg held his breath as he watched the vault dweller. Tears started spilling from her eyes, but she didn’t move for a long time. 

All of a sudden, the woman jumped to her feet. She turned, but stopped. She gave a short sniffle and looked down at Kellogg. Her voice was tiny and fragile. 

“Thanks for letting me know. I just, I need to be alone right now.”

After she finished she walked hurriedly into the small house and he heard her bound up the steps. He didn’t dare follow her. So he sat outside, unmoving, and looked up to the stars while he gave the space she needed.


End file.
